


An Unexpected Bonding

by lily_winterwood



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rabbits, Bonding, Bunny Bilbo Baggins, Bunny Thorin, F/M, Gandalf is shipper trash, and Bilbo and Thorin are rabbits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4458365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lily_winterwood/pseuds/lily_winterwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The course of true love never did run smooth. Not for Dwarves and Hobbits, and certainly not for rabbits.</p><p>Bunnyshield AU, bonding with Bilbo and Thorin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Bonding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [baggvinshield](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baggvinshield/gifts).



> This fic would probably not exist if it hadn't been for [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKktKzgO3SI) video and [this](http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml) article. And now I want to own rabbits. Thanks.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr [here](http://evil-bones-mccoy.tumblr.com)!

_Day 1_

Bilbo isn’t quite sure what Gandalf wants him to do.

He’s been taken out of his pen this morning and brought to a completely new part of the house. Everything here smells new and clean, down to the unfamiliar rabbit staring at him across the pen.

Bilbo twitches his nose. It’s a doe, her coat black with silver streaks in it. Her eyes are intelligent as they regard him. Bilbo hisses a little. This place isn’t the doe’s territory either, but what is she doing here? Clearly Gandalf had intended this pen to be his.

He thumps a foot, trying to tell her she’s not welcome. The doe’s ears, so proudly erect before, pull back in affront.

“Play nice, Bilbo. This is Thorin.” Bilbo turns to see Gandalf, his eyes twinkling. There’s a spray bottle in his hand. Bilbo recognises it; it’s the same bottle he has used before to chastise Bilbo for nibbling at the buzzing orange wires.

Bilbo tenses at the sight. He casts a glance back at Thorin, who seems to be grooming herself, clearly trying to showcase her disinterest. Bilbo growls, thumping a foot in warning.

What is Gandalf trying to do, introducing him to this doe? It’s not as if he could sire litters anymore; Gandalf fixed that ages ago. And Thorin’s smell is telling him he did the same to her.

Bilbo lunges, trying to get Thorin out of his territory, but she retaliates with a nip, and moments later both of them have been spritzed with water and separated.

* * *

_Day 5_

Gandalf has put him in the pen with Thorin again. Bilbo tenses the moment he sees her, indifferently grooming herself to the side. There’s a litterbox (smelling like neither of them) in the pen now, along with some food and water. Does this mean Gandalf wants him to spend more time in here? The past couple of days has been mostly Bilbo trying his best to ignore this new intrusion into his perfectly comfortable life every time Gandalf sets him down into the pen, but maybe Gandalf took that as a sign that keeping him in the same space as Thorin would be a good idea.

He angrily makes his way to the food, but not even the dandelion and banana treats set out make him any more pleased about having to spend more time in Thorin’s company. As he munches, Bilbo bides his time, keeping one eye fixed on Gandalf and the other on Thorin.

Gandalf has taken to hiding himself. Bilbo can smell him to some extent, near enough to meddle with the spray bottle but still not within sight. He seems far too cheery about this entire ordeal, which makes Bilbo wonder if simply ignoring Thorin until Gandalf considers the entire thing a wasted effort is actually a good idea.

Just when he finishes the banana, Bilbo straightens up to see Thorin peering curiously at him, her ears quirked as she sniffs at him. Immediately he lunges again, circling her with his tail stiff and ears back, growling for her to stay away. Thorin’s own disdain is evident in the twitch of her ears as she hops past him for the food bowl.

And Bilbo’s not going to let her get his food.

He lunges again, nipping angrily at her, but she evades him all the same, her lithe silver form always just out of reach of his teeth as he chases her. He’s about to pounce on her when he hears Gandalf’s chastising, “No!”, followed by a spritz of water.

Bilbo growls, but subsides all the same.

* * *

_Day 9_

Bilbo is agitated.

Gandalf had apparently resorted to scare tactics to get him to play nice with Thorin. Apparently he refuses to give up on making them breathe each other’s air, even though Bilbo has tried to fight Thorin every time he sees her.

And now Gandalf is running the Monster far too close to him for comfort.

Bilbo is shaking, ears pulled back as he whines in fright at the noise that the Monster is making. It is a fearsome creature that eats everything in its path, and Bilbo always worries that it will escape and eat him.

Worriedly, he looks towards Thorin, who seems equally shaken by the noise as he. She doesn’t like the Monster, either. Which is definitely something in her favour. After all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend, no matter how irritating.

Bilbo huddles up to her, taking comfort in her warmth and presence, even if only for this brief moment.

* * *

_Day 14_

The first time it happened, which had been the day after the Monster incident last week, Bilbo had thought that Gandalf had maybe gotten lost in putting him back into his pen, because he had deposited him into _hers_.

It had been a very troubling night. But then it happened again. And again. He would spend a night in his pen, and a night in hers. And now if he’s not careful, he’ll end up smelling like her, too.

He’s back in the shared pen with Thorin now, sprawled out a couple feet from her. Her scent is now familiar to him, however begrudgingly, and she still remains as disinterested as ever, though sometimes she looks towards him, her nose twitching thoughtfully as she regards him.

Gandalf seems determined to make him form some sort of bond with her. And maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea if he’s already getting used to her scent.

At least he gets fed banana on the days when he doesn’t try to pick a fight with Thorin.

* * *

_Day 19_

It has taken Bilbo some time to finally come to the conclusion that Thorin is not a threat. She did intrude on his perfectly ordinary life, but she does not want to hurt him.

Her scent is rapidly becoming just another aspect of his life; her presence is becoming familiar. Thorin usually stays still and quiet, observing and nibbling at the toys and food, while Bilbo bounces around her, nosing carefully at all the new things Gandalf has added to their pen. He’s letting them spend more and more time together. They take their meals together quite regularly now, and their respective pens have been moved next to one another.

Bilbo begins to bunch the towel that has been placed into the now much-larger pen into a small pile, and flops down to watch Thorin nibbling at her blueberries. The last thing he sees before he falls asleep is her moving closer to flop beside him, burrowing in closer to him.

* * *

_Day 24_

The first time Thorin grooms him, Bilbo’s first instinct is to stiffen, but the feeling of her tongue against his fur is reassuring enough to convince him to relax into the touch.

He hasn’t licked her yet; though he has been curious about it. She hasn’t presented her head for him to groom yet, but at this stage if she had, he might have complied with her request. It’s a definite change from ignoring him, and as they continue to spend time together Bilbo has quickly come to the conclusion that he doesn’t really want her to ignore him.

He nudges her with his nose in thanks when they are finished, and she flops down beside him, looking at him with an incredible amount of trust in her eyes, and Bilbo clicks in happiness as a reply.

* * *

_Day 29_

Gandalf has done something to Thorin, and now she smells of banana, and her fur tastes of banana when Bilbo licks at her. She makes the most delighted clicks when he does so, and it’s only afterwards that Bilbo realises that Gandalf had tricked him into grooming Thorin.

He doesn’t actually mind, sprawling down beside her and letting her bump her head against his, her nose nudging softly against his in thanks before she flops beside him in contentment. Her tongue flicks out to lick at him, and Bilbo returns the gesture.

He can almost sense Gandalf’s glee, even though he’s not sure where the man is.

* * *

_Day 34_

Gandalf has left them in the shared pen overnight, though his scent isn’t too far away. Bilbo had started the night chasing Thorin around before settling down to eat his hay, but Thorin had her revenge by nipping him as he ate, and then stole some of his banana treats as well. Bilbo had been ready to pounce her for that, but she then started nudging him, licking gently at his fur in a request to groom, and he capitulated by bowing his head to her.

Gandalf found them this morning doing binkies and running around their pen. Bilbo’s not quite sure what he’s done to get so many banana treats, but he’s not about to complain about second breakfast.

* * *

_Day 38_

Their respective pens have been combined. There had once been a wire fence between their pens, one that Bilbo had once lined with his pellets. But now fence and pellets alike are gone, and the litterboxes, toys, and beds have been mixed around the big space instead.

Bilbo has spent most of this morning sprawled out atop Thorin, who has acquiesced to his dominance for the day and is clicking contentedly under him. Bilbo likes it best this way; the couple of times that Thorin has mounted him, Gandalf had to be on hand to shoo Thorin off after a couple of seconds. But on the most part, it has been Bilbo on the top, and Thorin is usually more than agreeable to grooming Bilbo whenever he requests her to.

* * *

_Day 42_

Gandalf now lets them run around the house together during the day, which of course means that Bilbo has taken to chasing Thorin around the house before flopping down beside her in a nice patch of sunlight. They nibble at Gandalf’s wooden furniture together, dig at the carpet when he’s not looking, and sneak treats from the yard whenever he leaves the back door open. But on the whole, Thorin preoccupies so much of Bilbo’s time, and vice versa, that on most days Bilbo is content simply to explore the house with her.

Of course, the treats at the bottom of the bags full of hay that Gandalf leaves in the kitchen are a very nice alternative to chewing on the buzzing orange wires. Bilbo reckons that he won’t even miss those wires now, not with Thorin keeping him company.

 


End file.
